Ya know -I always looked  at people who took the time to organize their sewing spaces and became secretly  a little jealous.  I mean —some people’s  sewing space, when you see them on a blog, always look like  the space was ready for a photo shoot  for  THREADS or QUILTING ARTS magazine, or some publication like that. There’s  always seemingly  a polished, tranquil, organized sewing  space, that yielded itself to productive, creative, beautiful sewing  work, that  the sewist could readily display to the THREADS camera when they showed at any given moment and  at the drop of a dime. Not my space–  and certainly NOT my fabric stash!!

Heaven forbid that the world would see  my voracious addiction to fabric displayed  in some unorganized and  unruly manner, in a blog post. Lord help me if someone would find out just how much fabric I CRAMMED into that poor  wooden cabinet in “anywhichway” fashion.  NOOOO—I kept   the secret behind closed doors!!  Just as long as the doors to  the cabinet did  not POP open from too much yardages stuffed into  it, I was OK !!  Even on some days when  doors  did pop open, I still was OK. After all, it’s MY un-organization.

In the picture shown above and  in the sliver of the upper part of the picture that follows  you can see a small measure of the cramming of fabric. And that is just the upper cabinet. I have not  taken pictures of  the lower cabinet, nor  of the other  opposite room surface areas  covered in cottons and denims and wools.  Nor a picture of all the fabric I own taken out and put into one huge pile on the cutting table and floor.

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Now, I know I am not as bad as some, but I do know I could be a little worse than others with my stash (heck- I got sewing friends  in other states who NEVER go into their basements or attics anymore because they hate climbing over boxes of fabric. The NYC friends just don’t have any closet space anymore, as they climb over boxes and boxes of their “good fabric”.)

What I really came to decide is that I was sick of looking at unorganized piles of fabric every time I opened up the cabinet doors. Worse -I was buying more fabric without knowing what it was I already had for a project. I didn’t know because I could not SEE  what all of what was in my stash. Well the New Years resolution was not so much to head to the gym. I resolved  to head to the sewing room and get organized ( part one), so that I could see what I have in my stash as a whole, and then begin the process of  really sewing clothes  for myself ( part two ) with some clue or direction of what I am working with out of my stash.

NOW   I see why those people like being organized.  It’s not about THREADS or QUILTING ARTS. They like to go shopping  !! They like to put fabrics together  and create  a project. I get it!!  With my  fabric stash organized, I feel like  I am going fabric shopping in my own private store ( i.e with all the fabric already paid for..)  Maybe not for anyone else, but for me , it feels good when I want to start a project, to shop and combine fabrics at home like I do in the store. (Duh- tailorchick- what a concept?)

And the STUFF??  Fabric  Stuff  I ain’t seen for years  came out of the deep recesses of  that cabinet and is now up on that new Home Depot  wire shelf. It’s all “new” to me!! Whoo Hoo !!

   YEP– Believe what you see in the picture of that 72″ high shelf in the box.  I wheeled that sucker home on the subway!!  Ok -I call myself a real New Yorker with a deep belief that a  small hand truck, couple of bungee cords,  and roll of duct tape, fixes EVERYTHING!!   We don’t need no stinkin’ delivery charge!!  Nobody in the subway thought I was strange. People saw me coming  with that box  and  they moved  right out of my way (The answer to the question is : YEP -Rush hour!).   I just kept it  real ,and kept it moving right along. ( Yeah ,yeah I know– Here is where I pause and allow Cindy ,Terry, and Rosie the moment  to finish laughing .. OK! I can pause for that !  😉

In any event. Part ONE of  2017 New Years’s resolution DONE !!  Feels good. Fabric stash organized.  Yep– each piece tagged with yardages available and whether or not I already pre- washed it  or gave it a preshrink.   Not boasting here. Just making sure I don’t get confused  in the future and over process the goods before using it.

Now that the fabric stash is done, I now tackle the pile of UFO’s before starting some thing too big and new.   But that’s another blog post. The  sewing journey continues ….

Happy Sewing!